Today I share a writing of Sufi poet and mystic, Rumi
Elephant in the Dark
Some Hindus have an elephant to show.
No one here has ever seen an elephant.
They bring it at night to a dark room.
One by one, we go in the dark and come out
saying how we experience the animal.
One of us happens to touch the trunk.
A water-pipe kind of creature.
Another, the ear. A very strong, always moving
back and forth, fan-animal. Another, the leg.
I find it still, like a column on a temple.
Another touches the curved back.
A leathery throne. Another the cleverest,
feels the tusk. A rounded sword made of porcelain.
He is proud of his description.
Each of us touches one place
and understands the whole that way.
The palm and the fingers feeling in the dark
are how the senses explore the reality of the elephant.
If each of us held a candle there,
and if we went in together, we could see it.
I find this writing to be meaningful today although it was written in the thirteenth century! Each of us has our individual understanding of life and what it means. Our ego is the meaning-giving process that assess each of our life experience. We do, however, have the ability to apply a different meaning to life.
Each and every one of us, has our own perspective, our own thought out opinions, our own views about everything. It becomes challenging and we disconnect when we attempt to wield our perspective onto others. When we judge others from our personal vantage point. We move into feelings of separateness when we don’t find a place in our heart for the great diversity of thinking and being that exists.
If I touch the elephant’s trunk and view life from that perspective, my thinking and my approach to life will be vastly different than the person who touches the elephant’s tusk.
I ask, how do we as individuals explore life? From the one place we have touched the elephant in the dark? Or do we allow the possibility of many other viewpoints. Do we dare to step into the experience of others, to see life as the beautiful kaleidoscope of shape, texture, and color?
I am compelled to explore life from the perspective of those who are of a different race than myself, from the vantage point of those who practice faith different from Unity, or live a gender different from my own. As I remain open to experiences and as I invite variety, I realize just how small my personal view of life is sometimes.
If each of us held a candle, we could see the entire elephant. Each of us is the light – we are the candle. When we courageously step into the darkness together we then may see the whole. We may then experience our oneness rather than “us or them”. If we linger in the light of Oneness with heart and mind wide open, we may even see that we are part of the greater whole. When we explore merely from our human senses, we limit our experience to this human realm. As we explore from our divinity our highest spiritual awareness, we see as the Divine sees.
Now may be the perfect time to don our God goggles and look around, and behold the glory of humanity and all creation. Now may be the perfect time to look upon creation and see it good, to see it very good. God called it so, what stops me?
Sunday, you shall be delighted and enlightened by Reverend Linda Martella-Whitsett as our guest speaker. Reverend Linda is the Vice President of Silent Unity. She is also the author of “Divine Audacity and “How to Pray Without Talking to God”. Remember there is a workshop after the celebration service It is a great Sunday to bring a friend!
Blessings of great joy,